Butterfly Farm

Chapter Four: Float

 Float by Red
Hopeless by Breaking Benjamin
World War Me by Theory of a Dead Man

  🦋🦋🦋

  Ava didn't really know which was worse. Being caught alone with the twins within the first twenty-four hours of them being here, or being stuck in a tree with no one to help her out again but said twins. Probably both. Definitely both. 

  She turned back to the tree trunk and let her head fall against it miserably. This was stupid. This was worse than the time she'd set her bed on fire so she could escape when she was twelve and ended up getting burned. This was as bad as the time she'd run away when she was thirteen and almost got kidnapped by a creepy icecream truck driver. At least then she'd had the use of all her limbs and had been able to knee the guy where it hurt. 

  This time she was worse than defenseless. This time she was outnumbered, outweighed, and asking for trouble. 

  This time she was not okay. 

  "What are you-- oh, hey! There she is! Look, Sunny, I found her!" The cheeky voice cut off with a sharp yelp. "Hey! What?"

  "Don't call me that, fragger. I found her, you glitch. You were too busy dodging leaves like a screaming squishy."

  "You know what? -- no, wait, that's totally true. Nevermind. Hey, Squ-- ack, Ava, come down! Mrs. Lennox has been threatening to kick our afts back to Cybertron if we don't bring you back soon. It'd be great if you'd come back, like, now. Also, why are you in a tree?"

  Ava groaned and bumped her head against the trunk again. "Go away."

  "What's that, Sweetspark?"

  Ava frowned. Sweetspark? What the hell was that? "Go away! I'm coming back, just leave me alone!"

  "Uh, sorry, no can do, Sue. Our orders are crystal clear. We need to get you back safely or we get our afts canned by a very small, very angry human."

  Ava blinked hard, almost laughing in spite of herself. "Afts, seriously? What kind of idiot uses made-up obscenities at your age?" She tried to pull herself up again, but her arm screamed at her in pain, and she couldn't get any leverage to unhook herself. She collapsed back against the trunk limply. 

  Damn her stupidity, and damn her lack of upper body strength. What the hell was she supposed to do now, wait until her clothes rotted off the tree, with her in them? She'd be a damn skeleton by then. Hell, at least she'd have Halloween covered, right?

  Idiot.

  "Made-up? -- Oh, hold up, colloquialisms, right. What's the right word, Sunny? As? Ah-sss. Huh, that's like almost the same thing. Aft. Asssss. Ass. Asshat. Wow, I feel smarter somehow."

  Another thump was followed by another yelp. "You dumbaft. Just stick to the problem at hand, would you?"

  "Bro! Chillax."

  This time Ava did laugh a little. 

  The jokster twin sounded pleased. "Aw, look Sundrop, we amused it. Quick, hit me again. Maybe we can-- Ow! I wasn't being serious, bro! Fragging chill out already!"

  "Don't call me Sundrop," the angry twin growled. 

  Ava sighed, tuning out the inane bickering below her, trying to focus on freeing herself. What was she even stuck on? She tried feeling for something more obviously uncomfortable than anything else. Her right arm was still wrapped around the tree, feeling horribly sore but not stuck. Her left hand was on a branch but moveable. She wasn't wearing a jacket or anything strong enough to hold her in place except... her belt.